Dreams
by Simon920
Summary: We all need our REM cycles.


Warnings: none

Disclaimers: These guys aren't mine, they don't belong to me, worst luck, so don't bother me.

Archive: Fine, but if you want it, please ask first.

Feedback: Hell, yes.

**Dreams**

"_Dick, c'mon, we're on deck."_

"_I know, sorry. I was just..."_

"_You were just talking to that blonde in the first row, I know." The rebuke was good-natured, Dick knew his father was used to it and secretly proud. "C'mon."_

_He could hear the crowd, smell the sawdust, hear the ringmaster stirring the crowd to more applause for Landi's dog act as they made their exit._

_In costume, they wrapped the satin and sequined capes around themselves, waiting for the cue to make their entrance. His mother, standing by the curtain gave him a look; "'Cutting that a little close, don't you think?" _

_His smile and embarrassed blush softened her expression and "Fine, just be careful—and I mean that."_

_The intro started before he could say anything; "Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, if I may direct your attention to the center ring where Barnum and Bailey and Ringling Brothers take great pride in presenting the death-defying, dare-devils of the trapeze, those incredible, amazing and fearless..."_

_Then he was flying, sailing, an image of a bird soaring flashed through his mind before he felt the slap and jolt of the catch, slightly dizzy from four and a half tight turns through the air._

_Then he was down on the ground, looking up at his parents, a younger version of his parents as the perfect catch turned into a falling, tumbling, screaming nightmare ended by sickening thuds..._

Jerking awake, heart pounding, breath coming hard and damp with fear-seat, he lay in his bed, eyes unseeingly staring at the dark ceiling.

Hours later he poured himself a cup of coffee in the Manor's kitchen. Working a case late last night, Nightwing opted to stay over.

"You slept in this morning."

"'Sorry."

Bruce gave him a close look but didn't say anything more. The subject was closed.

* * *

><p>He was enjoying a rare afternoon off. It was warm and sunny, he had nowhere he had to be and nothing was urgent—it was a nice change.<p>

Deciding, for no particular reason, to go into Gotham and having no destination in mind, he found himself parking the Ninja and taking a stroll through Wayne Botanical Gardens. There was a group of bored high school kids, a few pairs looking for a thicket to get lost in for a while, mothers pushing strollers or keeping an eye on toddlers, serious people taking serious pictures. The all seven acres of the roses were in bloom and the perfumed air was a pleasure. In no hurry and having no agenda, he found a bench in the shade and people watched for a while before he saw her, the maybe college aged brunette holding hands with a boyfriend, laughing at something he'd just said. She was attractive but wasn't a stunning beauty, was slender and slight but she caught his eye and, at first he couldn't put his finger on why she seemed familiar and, even after he left the park, she was in and out of his mind.

"_Is your homework finished, honey?"_

"_Yes. Almost."_

"_I'll check I fr you when you're done if you want."_

"_Mom..."_

_Then he was outside, watching his parents walk away from him going somewhere, holding hands as they disappeared into the fog._

* * *

><p>"He has pneumonia, both lungs and I'm at my wits end with you, Bruce. The schedule you have him on would kill a marine and if you're not aware of that you should be."<p>

"He's never complai..."

"Never complained? Of course he hasn't and he won't if he think he'll disappoint you in some way. He's to stay in that bed until I say he can get out of it, is that clear? No workouts, no school, absolutely no 'night work'—is that clear?"

"Leslie, I..."

"Don't even start with me, I know you'd have him up tomorrow if you thought it would help you. You leave him alone and he's not to move from that room until his fever drops to normal." Her tone brooked no debate and Bruce knew when he was outranked.

_It was his birthday party though he wasn't sure which one, maybe his ninth or tenth? There were balloons, kids running around in what looked like a game of tag, a couple of clowns he knew the names of and a camel was giving rides without a handler as though it was the animal's own idea._

_The cake had been cut and he wanted another piece but, "Not now, Dick, you know you have a show later. You may have another piece if you turn the quad, just like we promised."_

"_But I can't do a quad, it's too hard."_

"_Of course you can."_

_Then he was standing on the platform, in costume. He could see his father already in catching position an hear the crowd below yelling 'Jump! Jump!'. _

"_What's wrong, sweetheart?"_

"_I can't, I'm scared."_

"_Don't be silly, you've never been afraid of anything in your life. Now, ready? One, two, three..."_

_Then he was flying, trying for more height to allow more time for him to make the turns. A final effort, the look on his father's face as he waited, swinging, hanging upside down by his knees then he was spinning too fast to see anything other than a blur. A slap stinging his hands as he connected, straightening out and feeling the jolt in his shoulders._

_Sounds of applause, his mother's arm around him back on the platform, a whispered "I'm proud of you"._

_Then his father who wasn't his father anymore but Batman, unsmiling, saying "That was sloppy and sloppy gets you killed, do it again."_

"_It was good."_

"_Sloppy, Robin. You want to work with me, you do it my way; I can always find another Robin."_

_Fear; he couldn't, he wouldn't. There was only one Robin but then he saw movement in the shadows of the cave, Jason Todd was working out, punching the bag and smiling when he saw Dick then laughing, knowing his turn was coming—and so did Dick._

A few hours later the Dick Grayson's spiked higher.

_A perfect summer day, fleecy clouds in the sky, birds singing, butterflies flitting from flowers as he walked down a woodland path, sun dappling through the trees. He found his car, a sedan or minivan of some kind and was driving three children, one beside him and two in the back. The kids were maybe twelve or thirteen and excited, talking about where they were going._

"_Dad, dad—you really know Superman? How frigging cool is that and why, I mean how come? Did he ever arrest you or something?"_

"_God you're stupid—dad was a cop, remember? No brainer, jerk."_

"_Barbara, if you're picking on your brother again..."_

"_I know, we go home but seriously, you know Superman because you worked on some case, right?"_

_They were his kids and he was driving them somewhere and it was the most natural thing in the world. "Yes, Superman and I worked together, all right?"_

"_When? Are we really going to get to meet him, not just sit in the audience?"_

_Dick stopped for a light, loving the day, loving his kids, loving being a father who could do cool things with his kids. "We're going to have lunch with him and a few other people he's worked with over the years."_

"_But what do you say to frigging Supermen? I mean, he's frigging Superman!"_

_Then they were back home, living in what seemed to be a third of fourth floor walk up. The place smelled of boiled cabbage and his wife (he knew she was his wife, though he wasn't sure later who she was) was yelling at him because he'd gone out and left her home again and then brought the kids home late, already fed and didn't have the common courtesy to call._

_The tacky apartment disappeared and he was underwater. It was warm, bright and might have been the South Pacific. He was gliding over a reef, marveling at the fish and corals, loving the beauty of the otherworldly vista surrounding him. _

_Sensing something beside him he saw Garth, smiling and realized that he was swimming with his old friend without the usual scuba equipment. He could breathe, move with unnatural ease, feeling part of the water and everything in it and realized that this was how Garth felt in the sea._

_Floating. God, it felt good to just float, to be part of this._

* * *

><p>A few years went later Nightwing was established in Bludhaven, Dick Grayson was a sergeant on the BPD.<p>

"My candle burns at both ends, I know. Lay off, will'ya?"

"I'm worried about you, if you don't get more rest, 'take a vacation you're going to implode or make stupid mistakes. You're riding for a fall and you know it as well as I do, even if you're too pigheaded to admit it."

"Lighten up, Babs, okay? I promise I'm fine and you know I never lie."

He heard the snort of derision coming through his com-link. "Bullshit, 'Wing, you're pushing it and it's catching up with you."

"Okay, fine. 'Tell you what, you and me, Bruce's island in the Caribbean and no one to chaperone? Sound good?"

"I get sunburned." She was in a major pout.

"The place in Aspen sound better, then?"

"And what, we'll ski together? 'Sounds like a plan." The sarcasm was thick, even for her. He heard the connection end, replaced by some minor static, "Christ, I'm trying here, y'know."

_They were skiing down the slope, the big, wide cleared area of the Burn at Snowmass. The sky was Aspen Blue, they had the hill to themselves, the ice crystals sparkled as they made their leisurely way slaloming back and forth. The mountain peaks surrounded them, it was a pleasant twenty-five or so degrees, they were in love and happy. It was a perfect day._

_The last run of the day over, they were in the Jacuzzi, soaking, drinking champagne and doing—other things. The hot tub was outside, steam rising thickly in the cold night air, the smell of wood smoke from fireplaces scenting the winter air._

_Then they were in the massive bedroom, the one with the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the entire valley. The mountains loomed around them, the lights from the town and the houses were below and the moon was full with the stone fireplace added flickering and dancing light. It was one of those magical nights when the stars align and everything is exactly the way god intended it to be._

_He looked over through the window, seeing the bat-signal on the low hanging clouds. "I have to go."_

_Then he was in costume, skiing to meet Bruce who was using a hang-glider to make a bust at a mountain cabin up on Ajax where it wasn't winter, but surrounded by trees in fall foliage, leaves raining down in the breeze. Joker was inside, laughing, holding Alfred prisoner until he made an apple pie._

_It was Dick's surprise birthday party and Joker wanted his friends there to blow out the candle stuck in the middle of the pie. "Make a wish, Wing-boy, anything you want and it's yours."_

"_I want Barbara."_

"_Too late!" Behind him, in the shadows was Barbara, lying in a pool of blood, shot, raped and close to death. Dick jerked awake still hearing Joker's laugh._

* * *

><p>Late night, trying to finish police paperwork, never finished, the bane of every policeman's existence. Without realizing, he nodded off, his head drifting to finally rest on his desk.<p>

_Hudson U, upstate and it as his first day moving into the boarding house Bruce had insisted on for security. No roommates, no shared bathroom, no communal living—or not much, anyway. It wasn't the way he really wanted to do the whole college thing but then he wasn't a hundred percent convinced college was his thing to begin with. Beggars and choosers? Maybe. The major plus—okay, the good news/bad news was that Bruce had even agreed that he could go to a school far enough away that he's have to live there. 'Leave the nest, cut the apron strings, forge his own course and all of that. This was a good thing._

_He opened the door to his new room, the one with the attached bathroom which had morphed into a spa complete with an attendant to rival any Hooters girl on the planet—things were looking up._

_His landlady, a motherly type who insisted on opened doors, no visitors of the opposite sex, no hot plates, no pets and Christ knew what else, was now the old lady's hot granddaughter, wearing a bikini and sunning on the large, plant filled terrace now attached to Dick's room._

"_Grandma thought we'd get along so we'll be sharing your room, okay?"_

"_No problem."_

_Nice change._

_Next he was standing on line for registration, an endless line about seven miles long, disappearing into the distance. He was at the end until someone tapped him on the shoulder, "Wayne's ward, right? The deal is that if you get him to build us a new gym you can go to the front of the line."_

"_'Sounds good."_

_Looking around he saw the new gym about a hundred yards away, the finishing touches going up and 'Wayne Gymnasium' above the doors._

_Sitting in his first class he was surrounded by a bevy of playboy centerfolds wannabes. College was looking better than he thought it would be, but somehow it was the way it was supposed to be._

"_Robin, Robin—Uncle Frank needs you. Somebody blew up the new gym—now!"_

_Lori Elton was standing in front of him, her hands inside his shirt right on the middle of the quad and now he was in costume. "Okay, take my laptop for me."_

"_I'm not your stupid slave—fold it up and stick it up your cape, jerk."_

_Lori always was a bitch—she was gone, replaced by Batgirl, smiling and placing the laptop in the saddlebags of her motorcycle._

_Two-Face was standing on the pile of the gym—or half of it. Half of the building was still pristine. "You know I can never make up my mind."_

"_I can; you're under arrest." Robin put him in half a pair of Bat-cuffs then let him go. "Gotta get to class, sorry."_

_Batgirl pouted, "I'll teach you a few things you won't learn in class..."_

"_Okay, I'll just write a paper about it—the prof will love it. Let's go."_

_They were in an empty classroom, Batgirl taking apiece of chalk and drawing parallelograms on the blackboard. "Okay, when you have two sets of parallel lines you can assume that the angles are...problem?"_

"_But, you said, I mean, I can learn this in class—I did learn this in class. What about the other stuff?"_

"_Other stuff?"_

"_The good stuff."_

"_Right, of course." She took a packet of papers from somewhere and spread them out on the desk._

"_Okay, pay attention. Let's talk about forensics."_

_This wasn't even close to being right. He blinked and now instead of Batgirl, Donna Troy was standing there and they were in the kitchen of Titan Tower. _

_She was smiling at him in that way._

"_What about Roy?"_

_Her arms went up to his neck, caressing his jaw and pulling him down to her. "Roy who?"_

"Hey, Sarge, sorry to wake you up but if the Captain sees you it'll be your ass. Go home, okay?"

6/7/11


End file.
